Golf: Slow start for New Zealand in Four Nations Cup

Zealand number one colfer Ryan Fox led the way for the Kiwis in the Four Nations Cup golf. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand has made a slow start to the inaugural Four Nations Cup at The Hills opening, with a combined seven-over-par total as Australia set the pace on day one in perfect conditions.

After a one-hour frost delay, the Arrowtown course showed its true championship quality as only two players - South African Hadyn Porteous (71) and Australian Maverick Antcliffe (71) - of the 16 were under par after round one.

The three counting scores for the New Zealand team came from Ryan Fox (72), Ben Campbell (75) and Mathew Perry (76) with Vaughan McCall shooting the non-counting 77.

The Kiwis will begin round two seven shots back from Australia, who are the reigning Trans-Tasman Cup, Nomura Cup and Southern Cross champions.

Australians Brett Drewitt (72) and Ryan Peake (73) backed up Antcliffe's round to be comfortably the most consistent team and ascertain a four-shot lead from Argentina.

New Zealand number one Fox, who is preparing to turn professional at the end of 2011, recovered brilliantly, playing the back nine in three under par to finish at even par.

"I was really happy with how I fought back," said the 24-year-old, who is playing what is likely to be his final team's event for New Zealand.

"I played pretty solidly all day. I just made a couple of mistakes early on. It's a tough golf course so it's easy to make bogeys and double bogeys. The back nine played easier with a lot of the holes down breeze."

Fox doesn't feel any extra pressure as one of the senior members of the New Zealand team.

"I have done it enough times that it's just another golf tournament. I am excited to be here obviously and I'll just continue to do what I do."

Ben Campbell, who finished third at the Asian Amateur Championship recently, was disappointed with his opening three over par 75.

"The greens got me today," said the 20-year-old from the Masterton Golf Club.

"I hit putts that I thought were in and they would miss. Sometimes I thought a putt would go one way and it would break the other. I started playing a bit better on the back nine but it was disappointing to drop a shot at the last."

Not doing his team any favours was South African Jared Harvey. He was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. Harvey will play the rest of the tournament but his first round score did not count.

The Four Nations Cup is an amalgamation of two tournaments the Four Nations (between NZ, Australia, Japan and Canada) and the Southern Cross Cup (between NZ, Australia, South Africa and Argentina) becoming one stroke play event.

The four international teams (NZ, Australia, South Africa and Argentina) are made up of four male players with the best three scores counting each day. One round of golf will be played each day for four days.